Hack The Planet is a Dutch non-profit that develops technological solutions to protect nature. Their latest product is ScannerEdge, an intruder detection system with LoRaWAN and satellite connectivity.
ScannerEdge deployed in the forest.
SmartDetect is able to identify humans within a 1km distance if they are using nearly any type of communications equipment.
There are some interesting challenges in the design of a system deployed in remote locations like national parks in Zambia. Power consumption for communication is one that every IoT developer experiences. Hack The Planet uses the very efficient Semtech LR11X chip for the LoRaWAN version and for scanning. They strategically schedule the scanning to balance power used vs probability of identifying an intruder. On the satellite version, they use the Ground Control RockBLOCK 9603 satellite modem and carefully limit data transmitted.
Humans and wildlife will target electronics devices placed in the field. The team generally places the sensors high up in trees, well away from known trails, to be out of the range of elephants and out of sight of poachers. They will sometimes coat the devices with chili oil to deter elephants. This however, doesn’t seem to always work with monkeys and rodents.
Larger enclosure is needed for the satellite version.
The systems draw power from one of our small solar panel, the P126.
Learn more about Hack The Planet and their partner, Smart Parks.
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